A Dare's a Dare
by Agent Henry
Summary: I never thought I would say this but I really, and I mean really, should have listened to Rose.


I never thought I would say this, I mean would you? Seriously! Oh, wait…you don't know what I'm talking about. As I was saying, I never thought I would say this but I really, and I mean _really_, should have listened to Rose. She is, after all, Aunt 'Mione's daughter, she was bound to be right and I really should have listened. If I had, none of this would have happened; I wouldn't have caused panic, I wouldn't have been arrested (yes, arrested), Dad wouldn't have had to come bail me out and I wouldn't be an embarrassment.

And. It's. All. James'. Fault.

You still don't know what I'm talking about, do you?

Let me start from the beginning…

"No!" Rose yelled, jumping off the bed to stand over Albus. "No. No. No. No. No."

James sniggered from behind her, "know any other words there, Red?"

Rose spun around and glared at her older cousin, "you shut it; I'll get to you in a minute!" She turned back to Albus, "don't you dare listen to him!" She pointed at James.

"The whole point is that it _is_ a dare," Scorpius interrupted. "He has to do it."

"That's a stupid and childish game and he doesn't have to. Only an idiot would do what James just said. Don't do it, Al."

Albus looked unsure but shook his head adamantly, "I have to; a dare's a dare, Rose. Do you know what James will do if I don't?"

"Do _you_ know how much trouble you'll be in if you do?" Rose asked. "You know you shouldn't do it."

Albus pushed Rose back slowly and stood up, he gave her a hug and she visibly relaxed, thinking he was finally listening to her. She was wrong. He moved back and stepped around her, facing James. "Do it."

James jumped up and punched the air with his fist. "Yes!"

"No!" Rose shouted at the same time. James smirked at her before leaving and Scorpius starting laughing.

"You're helping me, Scor."

Scorpius stopped abruptly and stared at Albus. "What?"

"You heard."

"I can't help you! You know my family. I can't put them through that," Scorpius tried to plead with his friend.

But Albus just shook his head, "I'm not doing this alone. If I have to do this, my best friend is helping me."

Scorpius stuttered before sighing, "fine." Albus clapped him on the back and pushed him into the direction of the door, out of his room and to James'.

Rose ran a hand through her hair. "I can't believe you are doing this," she moaned, following them into the hall. "It is not a good idea to sell "Team-You-Know-Who" t-shirts!"

xXx

It was the night of the celebration party the Ministry held every year, the mark the end of the war and to honour those who lost their lives fighting. Albus and Scorpius peered through the doors, both wearing identical expressions of worry.

"Are you sure about this?" Scorpius asked. He backed away from the door when he saw his Father coming their way.

"Don't worry," Albus told him after a minute. "He turned left and he's talking to my Dad."

"Why?"

Albus shrugged, "probably asking where you are." He shut the door again and stood in front of Scorpius. They had snuck out of the party half an hour ago with James to get changed and ready for what they were about to do. Instead of dress robes, they were now wearing jeans and had zipped up their jackets to cover the t-shirts James had given them. Rose was furious at them for taking James up on this dare and had ignored them for the entire week, only talking to them when completely necessary.

"No," he finally answered his friend's question. "I'm not sure. But we don't have a choice, Scor. You know what he'll do if we back out, especially now. We can do this."

Scorpius shook his head, "our parents are going to kill us! Are you really going to risk what our parents will do _just _to prove to James that you _can_?"

"Hey! You were the one who said a dare is a dare and that I had to," Albus argued.

Scorpius lowered his gaze to the floor. "Well, that was before you dragged me into it," he muttered.

Albus glared at him but said nothing more. When they heard the door open, turned and saw James walking in, carrying a cardboard box. He put it down at Scorpius' feet with the other one he had brought in before. "That's the last one. Are you ready?"

"No," the friends spoke simultaneously, which only made James smirk.

Scorpius knelt down and opened one of the boxes, reading what was written on the t-shirts. "Go _Team Voldemort. Join the Snakes. Come to the Dark Side. I heart Death Eaters. Who needs friends when you can have world domination?_" He looked up to James, "these are terrible; the worst things I've ever heard."

James rolled his eyes, "they're supposed to be. They're just for the dare. I'm not going to be selling them on the streets when this is over, am I?"

"That's because the Ministry will have confiscated them," Albus countered.

"Yeah, otherwise we wouldn't put it past you," Scorpius agreed.

James shook his head and clapped his hands together. "Right, let's get this show on the road." He waited for them to grab the boxes, and then opened the door. "Go," he whispered and we walked over to where his and Scorpius' fathers were.

Albus and Scorpius watched the small number of people watching them and gulped, knowing the crowd was about to get a whole lot bigger. They opened the boxes and took off their jackets, revealing their t-shirts. The people closest to them, who could read the writing, all gasped and stared disgusted.

_We are in so much trouble for this, _Albus thought before picking up a t-shirt. Not caring to hide how much he hated this, he started to shout to the crowd. Scorpius copied.

"Here you have a once in a life time opportunity ,ladies and gentlemen, to get your very own, limited edition Team Voldemort t-shirt!"

"You don't want to miss out on having yourself a t-shirt like this." Scorpius pointed to his own shirt. "Seriously, guys, you would be Crazy t –"

He was stopped mid sentence to security, who had removed the t-shirt from his hands and restrained him. He turned to see Albus handcuffed as well. "Oh, come on! We weren't hurting anybody!"

"You weren't hurting anybody?" Rose shrieked. "Look around. You've got everybody worried. They're all panicking that he's somehow come back!"

Albus looked up to his Dad with pleading eyes. "Dad, please. Don't do this!"

Harry turned to Draco, who nodded once, then spoke to the Auror restraining Albus. "Put them in a holding cell, I'll be there for them in an hour."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes, "do you still think what James would've done would be worse?"

Albus turned to his brother as he was being escorted out, "I'm going to kill you, James!" From the corner of his eye, he saw his Dad face James. His brother was in trouble too; that was the only small amount of satisfaction he was going to get.

Okay, so maybe I could have prevented it all if I had said no but James never should have suggested it then Scorpius and I wouldn't have been _coerced_ into accepting his dare…okay, maybe we weren't coerced…

And the moral of this story – always listen to Rose!


End file.
